Football

Illinois offensive line coach Bart Miller has returning starter Jordyn Slaughter working with a football in individual drills suggesting he might be an option at center in 2023. 

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

(Cover photo courtesy Matt Stevens/IlliniGuys)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Good morning and welcome to the first of 15 allotted spring football practices for the University of Illinois program as we are months away from the third year of the tenure of Illini head coach Bret Bielema.

It was simply a 20 to 25-minute viewing period but here’s a few quick notes:

Illinois head coach Bret Bielema announces several roster moves and injuries less than day before the first spring practice inside the Irwin Indoor Facility. 

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

March 20, 2023

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Regardless of the fact that he’s changed job titles in the last few months, Aaron Henry was likely to have a similar responsibility heading into Illinois spring practice season. 

Mike Farrell, IlliniGuys National Football Recruiting Expert

March 15, 2023

(Mike Farrell also has his own website: https://mikefarrellsports.com/)

In this edition of the Farrell Files Illinois, I’ll look at another DB target and break down some of the top 2024 LB targets.

Mike Farrell, IlliniGuys National Football Recruiting Expert

March 13, 2023

(Mike Farrell also has his own website: https://mikefarrellsports.com/)

In this edition of the Farrell Files Illinois, I’ll focus on a few key 2024 and 2025 targets one of whom will be visiting soon.

Witherspoon confirms he’ll return to Champaign for a private NFL scouting workout on April 5.

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

March 10, 2023

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- National Football League pro personnel are likely going to need to schedule one more trip to Champaign County, Illinois.

Mike Farrell, IlliniGuys National Football Recruiting Expert

March 10, 2023

(Mike Farrell also has his own website: https://mikefarrellsports.com/)

In this edition of the Farrell Files Illinois, I’ll focus on the top defensive back targets in the 2024 class with some nice momentum from the NFL Draft projections of Devon Witherspoon, Sydney Brown and Jartavius Martin.

Mike Farrell, IlliniGuys National Football Recruiting Expert

March 8, 2023

(Mike Farrell also has his own website: https://mikefarrellsports.com/)

I’m this edition of the Farrell Files Illinois I’ll focus on the latest 2024 recruiting info out there.

Mike Farrell, IlliniGuys National Football Recruiting Expert

March 6, 2023

(Mike Farrell also has his own website: https://mikefarrellsports.com/)

In this edition of the Farrell Files Illinois, I’ll look at a bit of recent recruiting news and break down how the Illini did against the Big Ten in 2023 DB recruiting.

Illinois Athletics Department Press Release March 5, 2023 Chase […]

Kedric Prince, IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

March 4, 2023

Tarvos Alford woke up recently to some great news

Illinois Athletics Department Press Release March 4, 2023 INDIANAPOLIS […]

Kedric Prince, IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

March 3, 2023

The class of 2024 seems far away, but the top tier programs are aware of getting the top players early and finding those that fit your system.

Former Illinois athletics employee and athlete Kathleen Knight is leading what she desires to be the high-dollar non-profit Name, Image and Likeness Collective for Illini athletes. 

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

March 2, 2023

(Cover photo courtesy University of Illinois)

In a relatively short amount of time, Kathleen Knight has gone from a University of Illinois athletics employee with extreme hesitation over embracing name, image and likeness for college athletes to now being the CEO and president of what many hope is the high-dollar collective option.

“At a certain point, that doesn’t really matter anymore because it’s here and it’s not going away so we all need to just get over that fear. I will say I personally got over it when I was able to part of, with the leadership of (Illinois athletics director) Josh Whitman, really needed to be thoughtful in our philosophy about what NIL success looked like at the University of Illinois,” Knight said. “The fact of the matter is (NIL) continues to be a lever that allows us the greatest opportunity to gain and maintain a competitive advantage. It started to become too important to me to not do everything possible, not to drop everything to figure out a way for Illinois to have success on the NIL front.” 

Kedric Prince, IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

March 2, 2023

This spring you should expect to see a lot of potential and committed football recruits on campus.

Mike Farrell, IlliniGuys National Football Recruiting Expert

March 1, 2023

(Mike Farrell also has his own website: https://mikefarrellsports.com/)

In this edition of the Farrell Files Illinois, I’ll look at some recruiting news for 2024 and break down a few of the big OL targets as well.